Getting into print.

[Orcus]

Unfortunately it seems you get to be a cautionary tale for others.

Here are some problems:

1. If you are the author, you shouldnt be wasting your time with the other stuff.

2. Dont get the art. If I want to publish you, I will handle that.

3. Dont do layout. I have an art ane layout department to handle that.

4. All I want from an author is a manuscript.

5. As mentioned above, dual submissions are not popular. Frankly, dual proposals are not popular even if you say you are doing dual proposals. I get a bunch of submissions a month. Why would I pick one that had the possibility of other publishers claiming rights to it? I wouldnt. So it isnt just publishers being weenies, it actually benefits you to not do multiple submissions or even proposals. Pick the company you think fits you best and try there first. Multiple submissions usually raised the "legal problems" flag and gets you in the "circular file" right away.

6. If I publish an author, I pay (usually) a flat fee for work for hire, meaning I get the rights to the work. Except for real big names (aka Gygax) there just arent many royalty agreements in this industry these days.

Good luck!!

My advice is to put the package together. Stress the manuscript, though. Also put in your submission that you have an artist who is on board and a layout guy who is on board. But present those as an option for the publisher, not as a mandatory part of the submission. Some publishers might like that (I wouldnt, but some might).

Clark

 

[Vaxalon]

My advice is to put the package together. Stress the manuscript, though. Also put in your submission that you have an artist who is on board and a layout guy who is on board. But present those as an option for the publisher, not as a mandatory part of the submission. Some publishers might like that (I wouldnt, but some might).

When I started this project, I had a strong suspicion that it was going to end up self-published on RPGnow. So art and layout was something I needed to think about. Art is also a more integral part of the product in this case. It's not something that is there to make the product more attractive, to break up the page. When I found out how badly things do at RPGnow, I decided I needed to pursue print if I could.

I realize that this procedure has put me at a disadvantage. I believe that some things are in my favor on this project

1> The artist I'm working with is exceptional. I haven't seen many outside of WotC products that compare.

2> The layout is a resource I have available if I need it. I'm not obligated to her. So yes, I'm offering the layout as an option.

3> The product I have is unique. There are a thousand adventures out there, a hundred books of spells/feats/prestige classes/whathaveyou, and a dozen NPC resources, but nothing like what I'm offering.

So perhaps I have made mistakes that will mean that I don't get into print. Perhaps I should have done more research before I started. Water over the dam at this point. The artist has done too much work for me to tell her, "Sorry, they don't need you. They want my manuscript, but you're going to have to get published on your own." That would be a really crappy thing to do to her. I owe it to her to put this product out there with her work in it. If that means that it doesn't go as far, well... then I'll take the blame for that, and accept the consequences.

Yes, this has been a learning experience. I've learned that authors don't control the product. Publishers do. If you want to make a product that integrates text and art, you have to be a publisher, and you have to hire (or be) the author and the artist. It's the publisher's job to create and lead teams of authors, artists, editors, layout people and printers to put the product on the shelf. Trying to do that job for them alienates them.

 

[rpghost]

Hey, you have mentioned RPGNow serveral times so I thought I'd chime in a bit:

- Cafepress is going to give you a very small profit on the sale of a book. RPGnow lets you set your own price and charges you only cost of printing for the book - thus the requirement to pre-purchase a batch of 10. If you don't have faith in selling at least 10 (or the money) I donno what to suggest. Our POD will earn you several dollars more then Cafepress per book I'm sure.

- You state "how badly things sell on RPGNow" - yet you seem to have a d20 product so I donno what you're expecting. We sell several hundred copies of most d20 products. I know for a fact that several publishers who DO do print products through the normal channels are not seeing all that much more in sales of products (from a small unknown company like you would be). The market is glutted with product and distributors are reluctent to even sign anyone. So PDF sales is a viable option and it of course doesn't rule out print sales in the future.

James

 

[Vaxalon]

I know that cafe press would be a bad choice. As I understand it, it works best for ancillary sales rather than as the primary product.

Several hundred copies would be very nice. Is it that high, though? Last I heard that was what bestsellers made.

My goal was to get published through a larger, more well-known company, in print.

 

[rpghost]

Chances of getting some publisher to like your idea so much that they will take time away from their busy release schedule to give it serious consideration is very low. I wouldn't hold your breathe on that ...

But there are some companies (like ENworld and RPGObjects and a few others) that can help you promote/brand/complete your product as PDF and thus easliy get you into the best sellers.

Any GOOD d20 product will sell a couple hundred. A great product from a great publisher (one that is known to do good work) can do 400+ An unknown publisher with an off the wall idea will be lucky to get 100. So it's up to you to figure out where you fit or want to fit.

I send checks for over $1000 to many publishers every month. So there is a profit to be had, if done well/right.

James
P.S. You'd probably be interested in the ePublisher Primer we're writing right now. Should be out next month.

 

[Vaxalon]

Thanks for the info.

We'll see what happens. It looks like we're going to have a PDF release on this one. Maybe after it's out someone will see how nifty it is and how much it deserves to be in print, and we'll get the subsequent ones printed.